Born on September 30, 1922, Hrishikesh Mukherjee was popularly called Hrishida. Even today, the director is remembered for his unique films. In a career spanning over four decades, Hrishida directed 42 films. When the late filmmaker started work, he initially began working as a cameraman and then went on and became a film editor. He had the privilege to work under Bimal Roy when he came to Mumbai in 1951.He worked with Roy as a film editor and assistant director. Hrishikesh Mukherjee was a part of Roy’s classic Do Bigha Zamin and Devdas.

The late filmmaker is often referred as the pioneer of the ‘middle cinema’ of India. Hrishida’s films reflected the ever changing middle class philosophies. With his style of cinema, Mukherjee created a path between the extravagance of mainstream cinema and the realities of art cinema. His notable films include Anuradha, Asli-Naqli, Anand, Chemmeen, Anupama , Aashirwad, Satyakam, Guddi, Bawarchi, Namak Haraam, Mili, Chupke Chupke, Khubsoorat and Bemisal. The filmmaker introduced Jaya Bhaduri aka Jaya Bachchan to Hindi films through his Guddi. He also introduce Dharmendra to comedy through Chupke Chupke, and gave Amitabh Bachchan his big break with Anand in 1970, along with Rajesh Khanna.

The filmmaker won several National awards and Filmfare awards for his films. Apart from these, he was also conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India. The legendary filmmaker passed away on August 26, 2006 after he complained of uneasiness.

The actor’s look in Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 2 will be inspired from her mother’s look in the classic Anupama

The Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster sequel has got more interesting – Soha Ali Khan joins the cast as Irrfan Khan’s tormented wife. Her role would borrow quite a lot from Anupama, in which her mother, Sharmila Tagore, was seen as a suppressed daughter. But as Soha points out enigmatically: “Nothing and no one is ever how they seem. I’m very excited about the role.”

Adding to Soha’s excitement about being teamed up with the talented Irrfan for the first time is the fact that her look, body language, clothes and appearance would be modelled on her mother Sharmila in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1960 classic Anupama. In the film Soha’s mother had played a suppressed daughter.

“Soha has just been added to Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 2. After the surprisingly positive response to the sequel, we want the sequel to be less budget-challenged, more glossy and viewer-friendly,” said Tigmanshu Dhulia, who is directing the film.

“We also needed to add more characters to carry the sequel forward. Jimmy Shergill, Mahie Gill and Randeep Hooda are back. But Irrfan and Soha play the other couple. Soha will play a very mysterious character.” Tigmanshu was very impressed with Soha. “When I met her, I found her to very unlike the typical Bollywood actor. She’s a very intelligent girl. Although the character is very different from her personality, she understood the requirements of her role immediately. I was stuck by how similar she looked to her beautiful mother. Yes, I’ve planned a very special look for Soha. I want her to look prettier than she has ever done.”

The movie opens with an unbelievable action sequence before going into the mode of a sweet love story. Beginning is good but the film looses its grip as it moves ahead. There are some twists and unexpected turns but they are not good enough to engage the viewers. After some ups and downs the film sounds predictable and disappoints. While the film claimed to be a romantic thriller, it offers none of it.Ram (Atharva) is an IT engineer in Chennai. He spends his weekends with his girlfriend Charu (Amala) in Bangalore. They share a unique bonding. Now, Lata (Amala), the new CEO of Ram’s company, returns from the US. With her marriage set to happen in a couple of weeks, she meets Ram and gets the shock of her life. She claims that she knows him well, but Ram treats her like a stranger.

Lata is confused. She says it was she who stayed with him in Bangalore without revealing that she was the daughter of the CEO. She had to depart all of a sudden without informing Ram, but she cannot understand why Ram is unable to recognise her. An accident to the car carrying Ram and Lata solves the mystery. Physicist (Jayaprakash) finds out that Ram is affected by ‘motivational delusion’. He imagines Charu living with him in Bangalore while there is no such person in reality. Lata, who is about to get married soon, wants to help Ram. She starts inquiring about his background. She finds out that he had a disturbed past especially after his mother’s death. Charu comes as a breath fresh air in his life and he falls madly in love with her. Her sudden departure makes a deep impact on him and he starts living in an imaginary world with Charu. Lata feels sorry for him but she cannot do anything about it, as she has to return to US to get married to her fiance. But a few twists in the tale force her to change her plans.

Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal, produced and directed by Elrid Kumar, has been shot lavishly in exotic locales. Sadly, Kumar, while focusing on such things, seems to have lost the grip on the script, which lacks logic or coherence. The director has got many things wrong. The depiction of software professionals and the romance track lacks credibility. The events move ahead in a hurried manner towards the climax. The suspense is completely missing. The physiological angle has been handled indifferently. The lead actors however, have given their best. Atharva Murali has shown a great improvement in his second film. He scores in some of the romantic and intense sequences. Amala gets a meaty character and does justice to it. She looks fine and emotes well. Jayaprakash and Nasser give a satisfactory performance. Santhanam fails to impress. Anupama in a small role is quite effective. Cinematography by Sakthi is good. And GV Prakash has given some peppy music besides the effective background score. Overall, Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal is rich in looks but poor in content.